And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.

17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, 19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

Opening Prayer

Heavenly Father

I pray that today’s message

transition from a head knowledge into a heart revelation

and through the power and the person of the Holy spirit

renew our minds and transform our lives with Your word

in the name of Jesus.

Amen

Introduction

Luke 4:20-21 (NASB)

And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

This is Jesus stating His purpose. He was sent to…

Luke 4:18 (NASB) abbreviated

… preach the gospel to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed…

Greek for Oppressed is thrau’-ō meaning to break or shatter.

The old King James uses the word, “bruised” instead of oppressed and the prophecy in Isaiah 61:1 includes the phrase, “heal the brokenhearted”, as do many other versions of the bible.

Jesus was saying He came to help hurt, broken… oppressed people because they areeitherpoor or captive or blind… or all three!

Broken people have one (or all) of these three common traits and Jesus came to set them free!

The Truth

· Everyone of us has an area of hurt or brokenness; some area we need help in.

· These are things that continue to reoccur and haunt you that weaken your walk… and we ALL have them!

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NASB)

Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!

8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with

persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

We know Paul’s thorn, but we don’t know his weakness or if it was spiritual in nature or a physical infirmity.

Scripturally, the thorn (a spirit) and the weakness were connected therefore, I believe, both were both of a spiritual nature.

Everyone is broken is some area of their lives! Everyone has one or all these three conditions in some area of their spiritual life!

1. Spiritually Poor

Greek for Poor is ptō-kho’s meaning lacking in anything,

Key Phrase to Remember, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me.”

The primary purpose of these teachings was spiritual.

Matthew 5:3 (NASB)

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus is teaching provision for spiritual issues…

In the parallel scripture found in Luke 6, “you” is used instead of “the.”

Jesus made this teaching personal and applicable to His own disciples!!!

If you’re lacking anything you’re are blessed now because the Kingdom of heaven is yours.

Philippians 4:19 (NASB)

And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus

There’s not a person walking the earth who is perfect or without sin…

1 John 1:8 (NASB)

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

There something lacking in the spiritual life of every Christian alive!

Romans 7:14-24 (NLT)

So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.

20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart.23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?

I won’t leave you hanging. The answer is in the next verse…

Romans 7:24-25 (NASB)

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Q: Christ Jesus has freed us from the law of sin

Q: If we’re free, why do so many Christians secretly feel captive to some type of sin?

2. Spiritually Captive

Paul Continues…

Romans 7:25 (NASB)

So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

NLV God’s Law has power over my mind, but sin still has power over my sinful old self. I thank God I can be free through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Because of Jesus we have the status of free men and woman given us through Jesus finished work on the cross.

We have to choose continuously choose freedom because of my sinful old self!

Paul called it dyeing daily!!

Romans 6:16-21 (NLV)

Do you not know that when you give yourself as a servant to be owned by someone, that one becomes your owner? If you give yourself to sin, the end is death. If you give yourself to God, the end is being right with Him. 17 At one time you were held by the power of sin. But now you obey with all your heart the teaching that was given to you. Thank God for this! 18 You were made free from the power of sin. Being right with God has power over you now. 19 I speak with words easy to understand because your human thinking is weak. At one time you gave yourselves over to the power of sin. You kept on sinning all the more. Now give yourselves over to being right with God. Set yourself apart for God-like living and to do His work. 20 When sin had power over your life, you were not right with God. 21 What good did you get from the things you are ashamed of now? Those things bring death.

Q: Did you hear that? “the things you are ashamed of now”

You now (verses before) have the ability be ashamed or sorrowful… repentant!

2 Corinthians 7:10 (NASB)

For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

You are FREE to live according to God’s will now so don’t live like a captive… REPENT and REPENT often!

Forgiveness is given 70X7 in a day, so repent 70X70 if you need to!

You are free to do so. Only captives stop repenting!

John 8:34 (NASB)

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.

When we sin, we willfully enslave ourselves again to that old sinful nature.

Thank God we were remade into a free person who can choose.

Galatians 5:1 (NASB)

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

You are not a captive if you fail, you are a captive if you stop trying!

3. Spiritually Blind

Of these three; poor, captive and blind; blind is the hardest to overcome!

John 8:31-36 (NASB)

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

The first step to being free is to stop allowing yourself to be blinded by the enemy!

We all need healing! We all need to repent! We all need help!

Invitation for Salvation (heads bowed eyes closed)

Without Jesus, you will always be a slave to sin and the wages of sin are still and always will be death!

Not the physical death appointed unto everyman, but rather the indescribable horrible eternal death in a devil’s hell!

You don’t have to experience that.

Jesus came to set you free and you can know Him today!

Luke 23:32-43 (NLV)

Two other men were led away with Jesus to be put to death also. These men had done things making them guilty of death. 33 When they came to the place called Calvary, they nailed Jesus to a cross. The other two men were nailed to crosses also. One was on the right side of Jesus and the other was on His left side.

39 One of the men who was guilty of death who was on a cross beside Jesus spoke bad words to Him. He said, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” 40 But the other man on a cross spoke sharp words to the one who made fun of Jesus. He said, “Are you not afraid of God? You are also guilty and will be punished. 41 We are suffering and we should, because of the wrong we have done. But this Man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your holy nation.” 43 Jesus said to him, “For sure, I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Prayer for Salvation or Renewed Commitment

Lord Jesus, I’m guilty, just like those two men who were crucified next to you. I’ve been a prisoner my whole life and I know that without you I’ll die in my sin and spend eternity in hell. So, Jesus, today, just like that the other man on a cross, I say remember me, so I too can be in paradise with you for all eternity. I repent today of all of my past sins, I believe in all the way down in my heart that you chose the cross for me and that you rose from the grave, so I could be from! I receive you as my Lord and I commit my life to you now and forever. I am saved, I am free! In Jesus name, amen!